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Kabul hit by deadly explosion as Taliban begin spring offensive Dozens killed and 300 injured as Kabul hit by Taliban suicide attack
(about 7 hours later)
At least 30 people have been killed and scores injured in a Taliban car bomb attack and gun battle in a crowded area of Kabul near ministries and government offices. Dozens were killed and more than 300 injured on Tuesday in a Taliban suicide attack on the headquarters of an elite military unit in central Kabul, one of the group’s bloodiest ever attacks in the Afghan capital.
The heavily laden car exploded shortly before 9am local time outside the office of a security detail responsible for protecting Afghan government VIPs and officials, according to police sources. The violence marked the start of the Taliban’s annual “spring offensive”, named this year for former leader Mullah Omar.
The blast ripped through the city, rattling windows several miles away, and was followed by gunfire as attackers took cover in nearby buildings. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, which was timed, possibly for maximum publicity, to coincide with the launch last week of the insurgents’ spring offensive. The scale of the attack, after months of Taliban advances around the country, has heightened fears that Afghanistan faces one of the most violent years since Omar and his government were toppled from power in 2001.
Gol Rabi Stanikzai, a police commander who was at the scene at the time of the explosion, said: “First it felt like an earthquake, and then came the powerful sound of the explosion. I looked around, and everything was full of dust. I ran to get my Kalashnikov, and together with my colleagues began forming a security belt.” The violence began just before 9am local time, when a truck packed with hundreds of kilograms of explosive was rammed into the compound of a security force that protects Afghan VIPs and government officials.
Stanikzai spoke to the Guardian at the end of a long row of shops along the river, leading up to the blast site. Several hundred metres away, metal facades were mangled and the ground covered in shattered glass. “All the way down here, people were injured,” he said. At least one fighter dressed in military uniform raced inside and battled police with an assault rifle. Outside there was carnage on streets that had been crowded with people waiting at a nearby bus-stop, or on their way to work or school.
Mohammad Aref, a 20-year-old shop owner, described seeing all his windows break in the explosion, and at least 50 wounded people being carried away. “The clothes of many of them were soaked in blood,” he said. “First it felt like an earthquake, and then came the powerful sound of the explosion. I looked around, and everything was full of dust,” said Gol Rabi Stanikzai, a police commander who was at the scene when the bomb went off.
Sediq Sediqqi, an Afghan interior ministry spokesman, said 30 people were killed. Kabul’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told reporters at the scene that the attack left 183 injured, but a spokesman for the public health ministry put that figure at 327. “All the way down here, people were injured,” he said, gesturing to several hundred metres of mangled shopfronts and shattered glass along the Kabul river.
Emergency, an Italian-run hospital for war wounded in Kabul, said it had received 22 casualties, most of them members of the security forces, and most lightly injured. Luca Radaelli, Emergency’s medical coordinator, said numbers could rise because it had been difficult to evacuate victims while the fighting continued. At least 30 people were killed, most of them civilians, said Sediq Sediqqi, an Afghan interior ministry spokesman. That number is expected to rise as some of the injured lose their battle, and more details emerge of what happened inside the heavily guarded military compound.
Sediqqi said the suicide bombing was followed by an assault by armed militants. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since at least 2011, when a bombing at a Shia shrine killed more than 50 people. That attacker used smaller amounts of explosive to target victims packed closely together, apparently carried in a backpack.
However, Rahimi, the police chief, said there had only been one attacker who was killed after half an hour. Police officers at the scene said that in the confusion after the explosion some security forces inside the attacked compound began firing without being able to see the enemy. The truck bomb should have passed through security checkpoints to reach a part of the city just a few hundred metres from the presidential palace, other security compounds and most foreign embassies, raising serious questions about security in the capital.
Police quickly cordoned off the area after the initial blast – a customary tactic designed in part to avoid potential follow-up attacks. “With no doubt there was a security vacuum and that needs to investigated,” Sediqqi told the Associated Press.
Hours after the explosion, shopkeepers and residents were arguing with police officers, trying to get permission to enter the area. One young man was slapped by a police officer. Another police officer poked a press photographer with the barrel of his rifle. A woman in a burqa told the police her injured son was at his shop, behind the police barricade, but she too was turned back. There was so much explosive used that it was felt on the other side of the city and shattered windows up to a kilometre away, and caused large numbers of injuries.
Baryalai Sarwari, 20, who owns an electronics shop close to the offices of the directorate of security for dignitaries, which officials said was the target of the attack, said that when the explosion happened, his uncle and infant nephew were sitting on the floor of the store, and were both covered in glass. The exterior of the shop survived, but everything fell down from the shelves, he said. When told of the Taliban’s claim that the attack targeted their enemies, Sarwari said: “All the dead today were civilians.” A spokesman for the public health ministry put the number of wounded at 327, and Mohammad Aref, a 20-year-old shop owner whose windows were shattered by the explosion, said he personally saw at least 50 wounded people being carried away.
The directorate’s offices are across the river from the defence ministry, and close to several other government institutions. “The clothes of many of them were soaked in blood,” he told the Guardian.
President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement: “[We] condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pul-e Mahmood Khan neighbourhood of Kabul, as a result of which many of our countrymen were martyred and wounded. Such cowardly terrorist attacks will not weaken the will and determination of Afghan security forces to fight against terrorism.” Baryalai Sarwari, 20, who owns an electronics shop close to the site of the attack, said the explosion showered his uncle and infant nephew in glass. Both survived, but he saw many who didn’t.
The Afghan government, backed by its international allies, has for months tried to convince the insurgents to restart peace talks, but so far to no avail. “All the dead today were civilians,” he said in response to the Taliban spokesman’s claim that the group targeted its enemies in government.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack as a cowardly attempt to grab headlines by a group that could not claim territory. “[It] clearly shows the enemy’s defeat in face-to-face battle with Afghan security forces,” he said in a statement.
Few Afghans are likely to be reassured by that message, at a time when the Taliban are increasingly bold and civilian casualties from fighting continue to rise.
The insurgents last week launched another attack in northern Kunduz province, where last year they captured the provincial capital for several days.
It was the first time they had held an important town since being ousted in 2001, although local officials say that security has now improved in the city and the Taliban have been pushed back in other parts of the country.
The Taliban’s renewed military confidence comes as Afghan government efforts to restart peace talks, backed by its international allies, are faltering.
It has for months been trying to convince the insurgents back to the table, but so far to no avail.
Related: Taliban announce start of spring offensive in AfghanistanRelated: Taliban announce start of spring offensive in Afghanistan
While the spring fighting season normally heralds intensified attacks, winter was unusually violent, with sustained Taliban offensives around the country and several attacks on the capital. While the spring fighting season normally heralds intensified attacks, winter was unusually violent, with sustained Taliban offensives around the country and several attacks on the capital, causing mostly civilian victims.
In January, the Taliban attacked a restaurant in Kabul frequented by foreigners and affluent Afghans, killing a guard and a 12-year-old boy. Later that month, the militant group killed seven employees of TOLO TV in an assault on one of the media group’s buses. In January, the Taliban attacked a restaurant in Kabul frequented by foreigners and affluent Afghans, killing a guard and a 12-year-old boy. Later that month, they killed seven employees of TOLO TV in an assault on one of the media group’s buses.
On Sunday, the UN released a report documenting a slight increase in civilian casualties in the first three months of 2016 compared with the same period last year. On Sunday, the UN released a report documenting an increase in civilian casualties in the first three months of 2016. The report showed that while the Taliban have scaled down their use of improvised explosive devices and targeted killings, the militants are increasingly using complex and suicide attacks in populated areas.
The report also showed that while the Taliban have scaled down their use of improvised explosive devices and targeted killings, the militants are increasingly using complex and suicide attacks in populated areas.